WASHINGTON,
D.C. — The Sustainable
Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) has announced four new projects that have
achieved certification under the nation’s most comprehensive rating system for the
sustainable design, construction and maintenance of built landscapes. These
projects, as part of a group of 150 projects participating in an extensive, two-year
pilot program, have applied the SITES guidelines and met the requirements for
certification.

The
newly certified projects include Theater Commons and Donnelly Gardens in
Seattle; the Taylor Residence in Kennett Square, Pa.; the BWP EcoCampus in
Burbank, Calif., and the Grand Valley State University Student Recreation
Fields in Allendale, Mich.

SITES
is a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center of The University of Texas at Austin and
the United States Botanic Garden. SITES was
created in 2005 to fill a critical need for guidelines and recognition of sustainable
landscapes based on their planning, design, construction and maintenance. The
voluntary, national rating system and set of performance benchmarks applies to sites
with or without buildings.

“These projects include a park, a private home, an industrial
plant and university playing fields,” said Susan Rieff, executive director of
the Wildflower Center. “They demonstrate how SITES guidelines can be used in
different settings to produce landscapes that make a positive contribution to
the environment.”

Since
June 2010, pilot projects have been testing the 2009 rating system created by
dozens of the country’s leading sustainability experts, scientists and design
professionals. The diverse projects represent
various types, sizes and locations as well as budgets. Fifteen pilot projects have achieved
certification to date.

The
SITES 2009 rating system includes 15 prerequisites and 51 additional, flexible
credits to choose from that add up to 250 points. The credits address areas
such as soil restoration, use of recycled
materials and land maintenance approaches. Certification levels include one
through four stars, which are awarded to projects that achieve 40, 50, 60 or 80
percent of the 250 points.

“The pilot program has
informed and helped us refine the next iteration of the SITES rating system, which
will be published in the fall of this year. Many additional projects are
continuing to work toward certification while we proceed with our preparations
for open enrollment this year,” said ASLA Executive Vice President and CEO Nancy Somerville.

The four
newly certified projects each incorporate sustainable features and practices.

Theater Commons and
Donnelly Gardens. One Star. Seattle, Wash. Designed by Gustafson
Guthrie Nichol, this project transformed a 1.6 acre parking lot, service
road and isolated lawn area into a welcoming, green, pedestrian-focused
entry to Seattle Center. Seattle Center is a 74-acre urban park and
cultural campus, and the site is located between the Intiman Theatre and
the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Storm water from the theater roofs and
non-permeable site surfaces is collected and filtered in bio-retention
garden basins. Below the surface, a continuous gravel infiltration bed
connects the basins and handles runoff, accommodating the required water
volume while maximizing aesthetic variety at the surface. Permeable unit
pavers help limit storm water runoff.

The Taylor Residence. Three Stars. Kennett
Square, Pa. The steep slopes
of this former dairy farm created an opportunity for innovative water
management techniques throughout artfully crafted terraced rooms and
unique garden spaces. A drip
irrigation septic system handles sensitive wastewater disposal while
preserving hillside woodland vegetation, and green roofs absorb rainwater
and reduce peak stormwater surge while regulating building temperature. A
rescue garden incorporates historic materials unearthed during
construction such as a porch railing that has become a fence, porch
timbers used to construct a potting shed and excavated stone and soil to
form planting beds. The site is
intended to demonstrate sustainable landscape design and management
techniques to visiting individuals and groups.

BWP EcoCampus. One Star. Burbank, Calif.
Burbank Water and Power transformed an electrical substation into a
regenerative green campus, showcasing products and techniques for
stormwater treatment within a public right-of-way, including permeable
pavers, tree-pod bio-filters, silva cells and planted infiltration planter
bump outs. Other sustainable
features include three rooftop gardens, a solar power array that hosts a
rainwater catchment system, a canal that
purifies storm water with plants, LED lighting, a solar powered
fountain pump and salvaged and repurposed concrete and gravel. The project
has also implemented five different water filtration technologies,
including infiltration, flow-through, detention, tree root cells and
rainwater capture.

Grand Valley State University Student
Recreation Fields. Two Stars. Allendale, Mich. This athletic
complex provides playing fields and support facilities for the
university’s intramural, club and varsity sports teams and is an important
part of the university’s effort to reduce storm water runoff to
pre-development levels. Not only does this complex contribute to the
health and well-being of the university community, it captures and filters
rainwater, contributing to better water quality and less sedimentation in
the Grand River and Lake Michigan. The university is monitoring wetland
quality as part of its permit requirements.

“This new group of certified projects represents that
applicability of the built landscape being sustainable and adding to ecosystem
services,” said Holly Shimizu, executive director of the U.S. Botanic
Garden.

About 80 of the initial
150 projects in the two-year pilot program have indicated they will continue to
pursue certification. The feedback from these projects plus additional work by
staff and technical advisors is influencing the next SITES rating system that will
be available this fall.

Major funding for the Sustainable Sites Initiative is provided by the
Meadows Foundation and Landscape Structures. For more information about SITES, visit www.sustainablesites.org. For images, interviews and more on SITES, contact media@sustainablesites.org.